Prompted Shorties

Table for Two

Prompt: Craft a story or scene about two people—or other nonhuman characters, if you prefer—from very different backgrounds sharing a meal together. What do they learn about each other that they weren't expecting?

Story: 

The "kinda back story" is in the prompt Symbolic Animals.

"Dad why do we do this again?" I spoke after we sent our waiter away.

"Thanksgiving?" He asked, quite confused.

"You know what I mean dad" I let out a quiet chuckle, but dullness came quite too soon.

"Cara, sweetie. If you don't want to do this, we can just enjoy thanksgiving at home like normal people" Dad spoke in the same tone whenever he's mad at me for not wiping the dishes dry. To think that, after all these years I still hated that one chore.

"Daaaad" I groaned like a little kid, trying to light up the mood a little bit. We've been doing this every year ever since I can remember. We never stopped even after what happened with mom. Even if...

Dad laughed. First time I've heard him laugh in the past few days. I let out a smile, I'm glad to see him laughing more and more.

"It's kind of like a tradition that your mom and I made, back when we were still dating. But before I continue, is this what you want to use my ticket for? Because I can always tell you the story anytime. Unless you want to waste it today, that's fine by me" Hmmm. Now that he mentioned it, do I want him to spill the tea now? I mean, I can always ask him tomorrow, right?

"No. Dad, tell me something else" He's right. This has always been our tradition as a family – Telling one truth that no one has ever heard before by the other. I know it seems silly because families are supposed to always tell the truth to one another, but it's all dad has to hold in memory of my mom. Something before I was born. I don't want to take that away from him.

Our thanksgiving is just another day to give us a chance to say one truth and one truth only that we've never told to someone in our family. That's what makes our thanksgiving special.

"I met someone" Ooooooooh! Jackpot! I knew there was something going on around dad these past few days. Now it all makes sense!

"Oh, do I know her?" I asked a little bit startled. I'm more than happy to see my dad back in the dating game again. I'm happy for him, really. I hope she's nice. I know she will never replace mom, but I do hope she can fill the void in my dad's heart.

"Not yet, but I asked her to come for dinner" Well that explains the extra plate on our table. Silly me.

I guess I'll just tell him later about me borrowing his car to practice driving, unsupervised.

I'm surprised he hasn't noticed the change in his gas meter yet.